I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2838 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a grant program 

for projects to strengthen and protect vulnerable infrastructure used 

during mass evacuations, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 20, 2019 

Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself and Mr. KEATING) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a 

grant program for projects to strengthen and protect 

vulnerable infrastructure used during mass evacuations, 

and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhancing the 

5 Strength and Capacity of America’s Primary Evacuation 

6 routes Act’’ or the ‘‘ESCAPE Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. EVACUATION ROUTE PROGRAM. 

8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
2 

•HR 2838 IH

1 (1) EVACUATION ROUTE.—The term ‘‘evacu2 ation route’’ means a route that— 

3 (A) is owned, operated, or maintained by a 

4 Federal, State, Tribal, or local government or a 

5 private entity; 

6 (B) is used— 

7 (i) to transport the public away from 

8 an emergency event (as defined in section 

9 667.3 of title 23, Code of Federal Regula10 tions (or successor regulations)) that is an11 ticipated, reasonably likely, ongoing, or 

12 past; or 

13 (ii) to transport emergency responders 

14 and recovery resources; 

15 (C) is designated by the State in which the 

16 route is located (or in the case of a federally 

17 owned route, the head of the Federal agency 

18 with jurisdiction over the route) for the pur19 poses described in subparagraph (B); and 

20 (D) meets the criteria for a mass evacu21 ation route pursuant to subsection (b)(1). 

22 (2) PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘program’’ means 

23 the competitive grant program established under 

24 subsection (c)(1). 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
3 

•HR 2838 IH

1 (3) RESILIENCE PROJECT.—The term ‘‘resil2 ience project’’ means a project— 

3 (A) with the ability to anticipate, prepare 

4 for, and adapt to changing conditions and with5 stand, respond to, and recover rapidly from dis6 ruptions; and 

7 (B) designed and built to address current 

8 and future vulnerabilities to an evacuation 

9 route due to— 

10 (i) future occurrence or recurrence of 

11 emergency events (as defined in section 

12 667.3 of title 23, Code of Federal Regula13 tions (or successor regulations)) that are 

14 likely to occur in the geographic area in 

15 which the evacuation route is located; or 

16 (ii) projected changes in development 

17 patterns, demographics, or extreme events 

18 based on the best available evidence and 

19 analysis. 

20 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

21 the Secretary of Transportation. 

22 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF MASS EVACUATION ROUTE

23 CRITERIA.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

25 after the date of enactment of this Act, the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2838.IH H2838

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
4 

•HR 2838 IH

1 retary, in consultation with the Administrator of the 

2 Federal Emergency Management Agency, State de3 partments of transportation, metropolitan planning 

4 organizations, and other stakeholders, shall establish 

5 criteria for eligible entities described in subsection 

6 (f) to identify mass evacuation routes. 

7 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out para8 graph (1), the Secretary shall— 

9 (A) provide a period of not less than 90 

10 days for State departments of transportation, 

11 metropolitan planning organizations, other 

12 stakeholders, and the public to comment on the 

13 criteria proposed by the Secretary under that 

14 paragraph; and 

15 (B) take into consideration any comments 

16 received pursuant to subparagraph (A). 

17 (c) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary (in consulta19 tion with the Administrator of the Federal Emer20 gency Management Agency for the purposes de21 scribed in paragraph (2)) shall establish a competi22 tive grant program to provide grants for resilience 

23 projects that strengthen and protect evacuation 

24 routes that are essential for providing and sup25 porting mass evacuations caused by emergency 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
5 

•HR 2838 IH

1 events (as defined in section 667.3 of title 23, Code 

2 of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations)). 

3 (2) CONSULTATION.—In carrying out the pro4 gram, the Secretary shall consult with the Adminis5 trator of the Federal Emergency Management Agen6 cy for the purpose of providing technical assistance 

7 to the Secretary and to applicants. 

8 (d) ELIGIBLE RESILIENCE PROJECTS.—The Sec9 retary shall provide grants under this section to resilience 

10 projects— 

11 (1) described in subsection (e); and 

12 (2) that— 

13 (A) ensure the ability of the evacuation 

14 route to provide safe passage during a mass 

15 evacuation and reduce the risk of damage to 

16 evacuation routes as a result of future emer17 gency events (as defined in section 667.3 of 

18 title 23, Code of Federal Regulations (or suc19 cessor regulations)), including— 

20 (i) restoring or replacing existing 

21 mass evacuation routes that are classified 

22 as being in poor condition or do not meet 

23 current geometric standards; 

24 (ii) protecting, elevating, or relocating 

25 assets that are located in a base floodplain; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
6 

•HR 2838 IH

1 (iii) protecting assets vulnerable to 

2 high winds; 

3 (iv) installing mitigation measures 

4 that prevent the intrusion of floodwaters 

5 into transportation systems; 

6 (v) strengthening systems that remove 

7 rainwater from transportation facilities or 

8 services; or 

9 (vi) other resilience projects that ad10 dress identified vulnerabilities; 

11 (B) if the Secretary determines that exist12 ing evacuation routes are not sufficient to ade13 quately facilitate mass evacuations, expand the 

14 capacity of evacuation routes to swiftly and 

15 safely accommodate mass evacuations and pro16 vide mobility for emergency responders and re17 covery resources, including installation of— 

18 (i) communications and intelligent 

19 transportation system equipment and in20 frastructure; 

21 (ii) counterflow measures; or 

22 (iii) shoulders; 

23 (C) are for the construction of— 

24 (i) new or redundant evacuation 

25 routes, if the Secretary determines that exVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2838.IH H2838

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
7 

•HR 2838 IH

1 isting evacuation routes are not sufficient 

2 to adequately facilitate mass evacuations, 

3 emergency response, or recovery efforts; or 

4 (ii) sheltering facilities; or 

5 (D) involve planning and acquisition, in6 cluding— 

7 (i) mass evacuation planning and 

8 preparation, such as— 

9 (I) coordination with Federal 

10 agencies and departments, agencies 

11 and departments within the State, 

12 first responders, and other States; 

13 (II) identification of evacuation 

14 routes; 

15 (III) evacuation route education 

16 and awareness campaigns; 

17 (IV) traffic analysis and moni18 toring; or 

19 (V) data sharing; 

20 (ii) acquisition of evacuation route 

21 and traffic incident management equip22 ment and vehicles; 

23 (iii) evacuation route risk assessment; 

24 (iv) development of enhanced mass 

25 evacuation response capabilities; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
8 

•HR 2838 IH

1 (v) evacuation route signage; or 

2 (vi) equipment for pedestrian move3 ment. 

4 (e) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—The Secretary may make 

5 a grant under this section only for a project that is— 

6 (1) an evacuation route; 

7 (2) a project eligible for assistance under title 

8 23, United States Code; 

9 (3) a public transportation facility or service eli10 gible for assistance under chapter 53 of title 49, 

11 United States Code; 

12 (4) a facility or service for intercity rail pas13 senger transportation (as defined in section 24102 

14 of title 49, United States Code); 

15 (5) a port facility, including a facility that— 

16 (A) connects a port to other modes of 

17 transportation; 

18 (B) improves the efficiency of mass evacu19 ations and disaster relief; or 

20 (C) aids transportation; 

21 (6) a public-use airport (as defined in section 

22 47102 of title 49, United States Code) that is in23 cluded in the national plan of integrated airport sys24 tems developed by the Federal Aviation AdministraVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2838.IH H2838

kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
9 

•HR 2838 IH

1 tion under section 47103 of title 49, United States 

2 Code; or 

3 (7) a route owned, operated, or maintained by 

4 the Corps of Engineers. 

5 (f) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—The Secretary may award 

6 a grant under this section to any of the following: 

7 (1) A State. 

8 (2) A metropolitan planning organization that 

9 serves an urbanized area (as defined by the Bureau 

10 of the Census) with a population of more than 

11 200,000 individuals. 

12 (3) A unit of local government. 

13 (4) A political subdivision of a State or local 

14 government. 

15 (5) A special purpose district or public author16 ity with a transportation function, including a port 

17 authority. 

18 (6) A Federal land management agency that 

19 applies jointly with a State or group of States. 

20 (7) A Tribal government or a consortium of 

21 Tribal governments. 

22 (8) A multistate or multijurisdictional group of 

23 entities described in paragraphs (1) through (7). 

24 (g) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

25 under this section, an eligible entity shall submit to the 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
10 

•HR 2838 IH

1 Secretary an application in such form, at such time, and 

2 containing such information as the Secretary determines 

3 to be necessary. 

4 (h) CRITERIA.—In selecting resilience projects to re5 ceive grants under the program, the Secretary shall con6 sider— 

7 (1) the cost of the project compared to the risk 

8 of recurring damage and the cost of future repairs, 

9 taking into account current and future emergency 

10 events (as defined in section 667.3 of title 23, Code 

11 of Federal Regulations (or successor regulations)) 

12 and extreme events, to the maximum extent prac13 ticable; 

14 (2) the extent to which the project reduces the 

15 financial risk to the Federal Government; and 

16 (3) such other criteria as the Secretary deter17 mines to be appropriate. 

18 (i) ADMINISTRATION OF PROJECTS.—A project that 

19 receives a grant under this section— 

20 (1) may be transferred within the Department 

21 of Transportation; and 

22 (2) shall be administered in accordance with— 

23 (A) title 23 and title 49, United States 

24 Code, as applicable; 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS
11 

•HR 2838 IH

1 (B) title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 

2 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.); 

3 (C) the National Environmental Policy Act 

4 of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); and 

5 (D) the Uniform Relocation Assistance and 

6 Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 

7 (42 U.S.C. 4601 et seq.). 

8 (j) FEDERAL COST SHARE.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the 

10 cost of a project carried out under the program shall 

11 not exceed 80 percent of the total project cost. 

12 (2) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The eligible entity 

13 may use funds provided from other Federal sources 

14 to meet the non-Federal cost share requirement for 

15 a project under the program. 

16 (k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

17 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section for 

18 each fiscal year $1,000,000,000, to remain available until 

19 expended. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS